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Wednesday, 23 November 2016

International Day for the elimination of violence against women November 25th 2016

Even though decades of mobilizing by civil society and women’s movements have put ending gender-based violence high on national and international agendas, not enough is done to prevent violence as we still witness too many cases of domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of violence. From these lines I would like to suggest some activities and lesson plans which can help us to arise awareness on the topic in our classrooms.

The first classroom proposal I would like to suggest is based on an empowerment song by Katy Perry called "Roar":

You can find some activities I have developed to work on this song here. The lyrics of the song can be downloaded from this link.

My second proposal is based on the huge impact celebrities have on our students. Therefore, we can choose some celebrities that have taken a stand and support the cause to end violence against women. You can ask them to read this handout in pairs and vote for their favourite. Then, in groups of four they will have to reach an agreement and later report to the rest of the students giving reasons for their choice.

If you like quotations, you can make students read the ones here , which were said by famous people belonging to different fields in life. Ask them to work in pairs and print their favourite one on a sticky note. You can find an easy tutorial that describes how to print onto sticky notes directly from your computer. Students can then leave inspiring quotes either created by them or said by a celebrity they admire around the school.

If you wish to develop a deeper approach on the topic, this lesson plan from Amnesty International is a very good option since it offers a range of activities for use in different curriculum areas for 11-18 year old students.

I hope that our classroom practice on November 25th can contribute to a faster solution to the social scourge of violence against women.